September 13, 2019 — Whale entanglements involving fishing gear along the West Coast have dropped by more than 50% so far this year compared to 2018.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as of Aug. 23, the National Marine Fisheries Service reported 17 confirmed whale entanglements in 2019, compared to 40 for the same period a year prior.

In both years, entanglements involved commercial Dungeness crab gear and drift gillnets.

“Year to date, it’s lower and is encouraging,” said Justin Viezbicke, NOAA’s West Coast Stranding coordinator. “We’ve seen spikes where we’ve seen seven or eight in a month and with three months left this year, things could still change.”

September 13, 2019 — The following was released by the University of Alaska Fairbanks:

Alaska Sea Grant is partnering with NOAA Fisheries to provide opportunities to Alaska Native and rural students at the federal agency. The goal is to increase their representation in marine-related professions at NOAA Fisheries, an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration formerly known as the National Marine Fisheries Service.

During summer 2019, NOAA Fisheries and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, which houses Alaska Sea Grant, launched a marine education and workforce development program that brought five undergraduate students to the UAF campus for a two-week course run by Vladimir Alexeev, research professor at the International Arctic Research Center. It’s called the Partnership in Education Program Alaska. The program was developed by policy analysts Sorina Stalla and Megan Hillgartner and by UAF faculty member Alexeev.

This summer’s curriculum focused on marine sciences and the drivers of Arctic change, climatology, oceanography, marine resource management and policy, law, subsistence use and perspectives, hydrology, climate modeling, permafrost, interior wildfires, meteorology, atmospheric science and more. Following their course work and a trip to the Toolik Field Station on the North Slope, students applied their knowledge and completed internships with NOAA’s regional Alaska office and its Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Juneau.

The cause of death for nearly 300 ringed, bearded and spotted seals since June 1, 2018, is not known, according to the fisheries arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the management agency for the marine mammals.

“We’re looking at a broad spectrum of possible causes and trying to rule out what we can and narrow it down,” NOAA Fisheries spokeswoman Julie Speegle said.

Viruses, bacteria and algal blooms are possible causes. Water temperature in the northern Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea the last two summers have been higher than normal. The agency is looking at possible ecosystem influences, including diminished sea ice, Speegle said.

Alaska Native coastal communities hunt all three seals for meat and hides as part of a subsistence life.

September 12, 2019 — The latest of several trawling vessels to come through Nome this summer is the Northwest Explorer. As it conducts a research survey in the Bering Sea, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries scientists onboard the ship say they’ve seen signs that this year’s chinook salmon numbers are dwindling.

Jim Murphy is the survey lead for this surface trawl in the Northeastern Bering Sea, as well as a fisheries research biologist with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, based out of Juneau.

“Yeah, we don’t see a large movement, because they still basically come out (of the Yukon River), take a left-hand turn, and go south,” he said. “They (chinook salmon) could be further north, but I think it’s more likely this is going to be a low abundance year for chinook or kings.”

NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Science and Technology has reissued a policy directive on the process of transitioning to a new or improved recreational fishing data collection design.

As first issued, the directive recognized that making changes to NOAA Fisheries’ recreational fishing surveys can lead to changes in the agency’s recreational catch and effort estimates. The policy directive also stated that a Transition Plan must be developed to account for these changes and the time and effort it takes to integrate new estimates into existing time series and incorporate calibrated statistics into fisheries science and management.

Formally documents the Marine Recreational Information Program’s (MRIP’s) existing survey certification process as a key step in transitioning to a new or improved data collection design.

Establishes that only those survey designs that have been certified or are on the path to certification are eligible to receive technical and/or financial support for implementation from MRIP.

Certified survey and estimation methods meet a shared set of standards, undergo independent peer review, and receive approval from the MRIP Executive Steering Committee. The certification process ensures new or improved survey designs are capable of producing statistics that meet the requirements of the Information Quality Act and can be accepted as Best Scientific Information Available under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Over the past eight years, NOAA Fisheries has certified six survey designs.

Procedural Directive 04-114-02 (PDF, 10 pages) has been issued with this revised policy, and describes the process of reviewing and certifying survey designs and documenting and archiving survey design details.

September 12, 2019 — NOAA Fisheries on Wednesday said it was disappointed the Maine Lobstermen’s Association pulled its support from the federal plan to implement stronger protections for right whales, but did not specifically address the lobster association’s criticisms of the science used to develop the plan.

The statement from Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, said the agency continues to review the lobster association letter and conduct additional analysis on the issues it raised. It said the agency will continue to work with the Maine Lobstermen’s Association “on any clarifying questions or concerns by other fisheries.”

Oliver also stated that the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team strives to develop consensus recommendations, but “the agency will consider the extent of support for alternative proposals when consensus is not reached.”

Oliver’s statement arrived following 11 days of silence from NOAA Fisheries after the Maine Lobstermen’s Association informed the agency on Aug. 30 that it was stepping away from the right whale take reduction plan.

We are opening a two-week season for Gulf of Maine cod from September 15-30, 2019.

Possession limits are per person per day and size limits are minimum total length.

Cod and haddock on board a vessel must be readily available for inspection. Fillets must have at least 2 square inches of contiguous skin that allows for identification of fish species, while possessed on board and at the time of landing.

During multiple-day trips, a vessel may possess the daily limit up to the number of calendar days fished. Any trip covering 2 calendar days must be at least 15 hours in duration. The possession limit for the second day may be possessed only after the second calendar day begins, and the same applies for each additional day. For example, a vessel on a 2-day trip could not be in possession of more than 15 Gulf of Maine haddock, per person, on the first day of the trip.

NOAA Fisheries announces an increase in commercial king mackerel trips limits in the Atlantic Southern Zone during Season 1 (March 1-September 30).

During March each year, the commercial trip limit will increase from 50 to 75 fish between the Flagler/Volusia County, Florida, boundary and the Miami-Dade/Monroe County, Florida, boundary.

In addition, the commercial trip limit will increase from 75 fish to 3,500-pounds from April 1 through September 30 off Volusia County, Florida.

On September 1, 2019, the National Marine Fisheries Service reduced the trip limit from 75 to 50 fish south of Volusia County, Florida, to the Miami-Dade/Monroe County, Florida, boundary because 75% of the Season 1 quota was landed.

Therefore, the trip limit will remain at 50 fish for the area south of Volusia County, Florida, through September 30.

WHEN RULE WILL TAKE EFFECT:

These changes to the commercial trip limits will be effective on September 11, 2019.

WHAT THIS MEANS:

Commercial trip limits are changing as a result of Framework Amendment 6 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Coastal Migratory Pelagics Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Region.

For the month of March, between the Flagler/Volusia County, Florida, boundary and the Miami-Dade/Monroe County, Florida, boundary, the king mackerel commercial trip limit will be 75 fish.

Between April 1 and September 30, the trip limit will be 3,500-pounds off Volusia County, Florida.

There are no changes to the current April 1 through September 30 trip limit south of Volusia County, Florida, to the Miami-Dade/Monroe County, Florida, boundary.

This bulletin serves as a Small Entity Compliance Guide, complying with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.

Effective today, we are reducing the northern red hake commercial per-trip possession from 3,000 lb to 400 lb per day. Federally permitted vessels fishing for northern red hake may not exceed the incidental commercial possession limit of 400 lb per trip for the remainder of the 2019 fishing year, which ends on April 30, 2020.

This reduction is required by regulation because as of September 3, 2019, the northern red hake fishery is projected to reach or exceed 37.9 percent of the total allowable landings (TAL) on or around September 4, 2019.

Vessels that are currently on a trip when this reduction becomes effective may retain northern red hake up to the prior possession limit of 3,000 lb for the completion of that trip. Dealers issued federal permits for small-mesh multispecies may not purchase more than 400 lb of northern red hake per trip from federally permitted vessels for any trip that started after September 9, 2019 through the remainder of the fishing year (April 30, 2020).

For more information read the rule as filed in the Federal Register or the bulletin posted on our website.